At this point in the preseason, players are about rounded into form. The anticipation for the regular season takes over and the games take on a strange waywardness to them.
The Magic led by eight points after three quarters and had the lead almost the entire night in the game. They yo-yoed the lead up to as much as 12 points and were rarely threatened. Again, if such things matter.
The work was done for the Magic. They can worry about finishing games at a later date. Now was clearly not the time to do that.
The Magic watched their lead dwindle away and watched the Rockets take control with the spunky third unit that has given numerous teams trouble and given the Rockets a solid 5-2 record. Again, none of this matters.
Willie Green helped tie the game with a “clutch” 3-pointer. But a backcourt foul from Dewayne Dedmon set up the game-winning free throws for the Rockets. Green missed a floater and Andrew Nicholson missed a tip in to give the Rockets a 90-89 win over the Magic at Amway Center on Wednesday. Again, if any of that matters.
| Score | Off. Rtg. | eFG% | O.Reb.% | TO% | FTR | |
| Houston | 90 | 92.9 | 41.8 | 26.0 | 11.8 | 31.8 |
| Orlando | 89 | 92.9 | 46.3 | 22.7 | 16.1 | 25.0 |
The game was decided largely with Magic bench players with Dewayne Dedmon manning the paint and Willie Green and
Evan Fourniersharing point guard duties. It was not a lineup meant to get a result.
Really none of these games are. These games are about getting the thought processes and philosophies down so that they will be there as a safety blanket when the games start to count.
For much of the night — and much of this preseason — things seem to be going pretty well.
“I think so far we have done a pretty good job ,” Aaron Gordon said. “Some of the veterans on our team probably have a better idea than I do because I don’t know how it’s going to perform in the regular season. Right now, it looks good to me. We still have pieces to put together and we have to be able to do it for an entire game.”
That remains much of the mystery. Especially with Victor Oladipo and Channing Frye out of the lineup, there remains a deep mystery over exactly how this team will come together. It is simply impossible to know until the ball gets thrown up and we get things going.
There is just a process and philosophy to trust right now. The results of games or individual plays may not be most important quite yet.
“I think you get a little combination of both — whether it is execution out of a timeouts, execution over the course of a game or plays that we have drawn up on the offensive end of the floor or whether it’s execution on the defensive end of the floor and the carryover from practice,” Jacque Vaughn said. “You get a little bit of everything. At the end of the day, you see results and guys are able to look at the results and see if they are in the right place. It kind of fits hand in hand.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anNAS_3YKfs
Players are rounding into form for sure. Nikola Vucevic kept things going with another standout effort. He scored eight of his 12 points in the first quarter, shooting six for seven from the floor overall. He also grabbed six rebounds. With Dwight Howard sitting out tonight, Vucevic easily established himself in the post and got the shots he wanted, making them with ease.
Orlando also continued to do a good job attacking the paint and spreading the ball around. The team sometimes passes too much. Things are still getting into sync. The Magic finished with 18 assists on 35 field goals. The end of the game devolved into a lot of one-on-one basketball. Pretty much exactly how the Magic are not going to win.
When the ball was moving though, Orlando was in control of the pace of the game and getting good looks. They may not have always fallen — Tobias Harris, notably, had an up-and-down game with four points on 2-for-9 shooting, but he got open looks in the corner for 3-pointers and continued to be aggressive.
Defensively, the Magic remained active. Perhaps they sink in a bit too much and try to dig at the ball too much, taking them out of position to rotate back out to the 3-point line. The Rockets made just two of their first 10 3-point attempts and nine of 34 for the game (Troy Daniels made just four of 13). Orlando has not quite been burned on it yet, but continues to give up a healthy number of 3-point attempts.
These are things the team can continue to clean up and sharpen up on before the season kicks off next week in New Orleans.
The team is getting there and they feel ready.
“I think I understand what I need to do now for my team to help us win and to make the people around me better,” Gordon said. “It’s a blessing we got to do preseason and I got this many games underneath my belt before we get started.”